Percussion mechanism



June 21, 1960 E. w. BRANDT 2,941,448

PERCUSSION MECHANISM Filed Dec. 16, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 '7 1; I l l 1 "r171 l; J M

June 21, 1960 E. w. BRANDT 2,941,448

PERCUSSION MECHANISM Filed Dec. 16, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 fi m; 4%

IN V EN TOR.

PERCUSSION MECHANISM Edgar William Brandt, Geneva, Switzerland, assign'or to Anstalt fiir die Entwicklung von Erfindungen und gewerblichen Anwendungen Energa, Vaduz, Liechtenstein, a corporation Filed Dec. 16, 1957, Ser. No. 703,134

Claims priority, application Switzerland Jan. 18, 1957 2 Claims. (Cl. 891.7)

This invention relates to a percussion mechanism intended more especially for weapons of the rocket throwing type.-

These weapons generally entail a certain amount of danger to the gun crew owing to the fact that they are open at both ends and a violent jet of hot gases escapes through the rear at the moment of firing. Thus in the event of badly timed firing, the ammunition server runs the risk of being hit if he has not taken care to move out of the danger zone or if, after placing the rocket in the weapon, he has not taken cover in time. It is therefore necessary to provide rocket throwers with a percussion mechanism the safety of which is effective and avoids any wrong move by the marksman or by the ammunition server.

The mechanism according to the invention comprises inside a case, a striker-carrying hammer which on firing is swung down, by the propulsive gases of the rocket, against at least one percussion spring, a cocking sear and a safety sear each adapted, in the active position to hold the said hammer in the cocked position, a lock for fixing the projectile, which look projects in part into the barrel of the weapon and the withdrawal of which is effected either manually or automatically by the said hammer on percussion or else by introduction of a projectile into the barrel of the weapon, and a trigger device actuating the cocking sear, the said mechanism being characterised in that the withdrawal of the lock controls the movement of the safety sear into the active position.

By virtue of these arrangements the percussion mechanism hammer is automatically secured:

(1) Before firingz- (a) On the introduction of a projectile into the weapon,

(b) On the extractionof aprojectile from thelweapon,

(2) After firing: b On the recocking" of tlie hammerby the self propulsion ;1 iii In fact, in each of the foregoing circumstances, the lock is necessarily withdrawn and causes the operation of the safety sear which, when the hammer is in the cocked position, engages with the latter and holds it in place.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the safety sear, after being brought manually into the inactive position, is held in this position, against an opposing spring, by a pawl the release of which is effected either manually or by withdrawal of the said lock.

According to the preferred embodiment of the invention, the cocking sear contains a control arm the free end of which projects beneath the case of the mechanism and which can be connected to a supplementary trigger system.

This arrangement enables the mechanism to be operated remotely if desired, for example by traction on a cord connected to the said sear.

According to a modification, the mechanism contains a rigid shock-absorber adapted to oscillate about an axis 2,941,448 Patented June 21, 1960 Figure 1 is a general view, on a reduced scale, of a rocket-thrower;

Figure 2 is a longitudinal section of the trigger device;

Figures 3 to 5 show in elevation and with the case in section three phases of operation of the mechanism of the invention.

The rocket-thrower shown in Figure 1 comprises essentially a barrel, open at both ends, a trigger device housed in a butt 1 and a percussion mechanism disposed inside a case fixed to the rear end of the barrel.

According to Figure 2, the trigger device comprises a trigger 2 pivoting about the axis 3 and provided with a lever 4 pivoted at 5; the lever 4 is urged rearwardly by a spring catch 6 the tension of which is adjustable by means of the screw 7. A second lever 8 mounted on the pivot 9 bears by its lower part on the stop 10 while its upper part is in contact with a transmission rod 11 which connects the trigger device to the percussion mech anism; a return spring 12 connects the trigger 2 to the lever 8. Firing safety is ensured by manual rotation of a safety means 13, in the form of a half-circle, the convex part of which limits the travel of the lever 8.

The firing mechanism (Figures 3 to 5) disposed inside a case 14 comprises: a hammer 15 carrying a striker 16, a cocking sear 17, a safety sear 18, and bell-crank lever 19 and a lock 20, the latch 21 of which is adaptedv to project into the barrel of the weapon. The hammer 15, journaled about a pivot 22, has two recesses 23 and 24; the first one, 23 forms a projection which, bears, on

percussion (Figure 5), .on a finger 25 of the lock 20;.

the second 24, engages, in Figures 3 and 4, with at least one of the scars 17 and 18, which holds the hammer cocked against a percussion spring 26. The latter is fixed on the one hand to a pin 27 of the said hammer and on the other hand to a metallic piece 28 or yield able shock-absorber adapted to oscillate about a pivot 31, has at the rear a nose 35 adapted to engage with a pawl 36 after lowering of the cocking lever F disposed outside the case 14 and movable, through the square 37, with the sear 18. The springs 38 and 39 return the scars 17 and 18 to the active position, towards the hammer 15.

The bell-crank lever 19, mounted on a shaft 40, has an arm 41 the end of which engages with a certain clearance in a recess 42 of the lock 20. The pawl 36 is carried by the other arm of the lever 19. A spring 43 urges the lever 19 about the axis 40 in the counterclockwise direction. A lever S carried by the square 44 of the shaft 40 controls the angular displacement of the lever 19 and hence that of the arm 41 and of the pawl 36.

The lock 20 has two articulation arms 45, parallel to one another (only one is shown in Figures 3 to 5), adapted to pivot about the shaft 40. The free end of 3 the arm 45 is urged downward by a spring 46 the traction of which keeps the latch'21 projecting intothe barrel of the weapon.

The percussion mechanism operates in the followingv manner: 7 p I p By placing the safety means 13 int'o the position shown in Fig. 2, the marksman cocks-the trigger device, while the ammunition server operates the lever F ,(Fig! 3) to free the safety sear 18, as shown in Fig. 4, and the nose 35engages with the pawl 36. anism is cocked.

When the marksman presses the trigger2 (Fig. it causes the angular displacement of thelevei'sA' and 8 and the consecutive advance of the transmission 11, which moves the arm 32 (Fig. 4) of the'cocking searjl7.

On the withdrawal of the nose 'ofi the sear 1f], the hamreleased from the nose 35 of the sear18 which, under the action of the spring 3?, comes into the active position. The gases ejected to the rear by the rocket swing down the hammer 15 which bears (Fig. 3) on'the shockahsorber 28. The later swings about the 'axis 29, against the percussion spring 26, and thus absorbs the recoil energy of the hammer. Returned to its initial position by the reaction of the shock-absorber 28, the hammer 15 is stopped by the noses of the sears 17 'and18 which are then engaged with the recess 24 so that th'e'percus sion mechanism is again secured' i If, for some reason, the mechanism is cocked (Fig. 4) when the ammunition server is loading a' rocket into the The percussion mechfully, enables the latch .of the lock 'to. be withdrawn to.

free the projectile.

Whatis claimed is: V 1. A percussion mechanism for a firearm having a .-launching ba rel hnen' both 's ds q h tisius a case for said mechanism, a spring actuated hammer pivoted therein for retraction to cooking position by 'the expiosive gases, a cooking sear and a'safety sear each independently engag'eable with the hammer in cocked s sm a riss r fq mretr q h theso kins s ar r m a e en w Qh he hammer ama ed. loch. m mber pivoted in the case, a latch' on the lock member for prote ti n m the ba el o. h ld. he rqieqtile in firin position, a bell-crank.lever pivoted in the case, an

- f hel ve en ing in o. th e s f th k mm.-

" her and h h m f. th e ep n t sa ety barrel, the latch 21 moving downward to allow the rocket to pass, drives with it the bell-crank lever 19;

the nose 36 withdraws and the safety sear 18' returns into the active position. The introduction of a projectile into the rocket-thrower therefore secures the percussion mechanism.

In order to extract from the rocket-thrower a,pro-

jectile which has already been put into position, 'the ammunition server must tree the latch 21 of the lock 20.. To this end, he operates the lever S in the clockwise direction; the said lever, fixed to the lever 19, on

moving drives the arm 41 the end of which (engaged in the recess 42 ofithe lock-20) at the. end'of its travel;

effects the withdrawal of the latch 21. At the same time, the pawl 36 frees the nose 35 and the sear 18 comes into the active position, if it were not there previously. Removal of the proj'ectile can, therefore; only take place if the mechanism is also secured.

Finally, it the ammunition server after cocking the sear in retracted: position but dis-engageable. on retraction of the latch from the barreltojrelease. the safety a r h hathesq hd ha m r:

21 A per us' iqn m hahi m t a fir rm. ha n a a h r e pm a h h. en s. so h i l as o Sa me ha ism a r s-eq a ed h ihih i ote he i r etra i hn w ckin Position b he, ex.- plosive gases, a cocking sear and a safety sear each inde- 'P?. l .Y. l a Qab th hamm in sacked os iqa a r e raq h i he hq ng r fi m na e heht wi h e ha mer h re sed .6 m mb r Pi tq' li in th c e a a c 01 he. 9 memb t r P 'Q' ieq ioh. .23 barrel to 9 51, h r hi le n fi n position, a bell-crank lever pivoted in the case, an arm of; the lever extending into the recess of the lock member and a secondarm 'otthe lever engaging the safetysear in retracted position, a projection on 'the hammer, and a finger on thelock in the path of the projection to rem st the latqh n s n e h S fety s he h hamm mq s ng o it n- Re er e t d i the file of this p e t N T D A ES, P ENT 2,442,386 Uhl June 1, 124-8 2,451,522 Uhl et al. Oct. 19, 1948 2,517,533 Motley Aug. 1, 1950 2,685,232 Brandt u 3, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 682,657 Great Britain, Nov. '12, 1952 

